Restoration

Posted July 10, 2014:

Food for the Soul

Catherine Doherty saw that the missionaries who were pouring out their lives for their people needed themselves to be fed spiritually. So some time in the mid-1970s, she decided to use some of the proceeds from the shop to send them Madonna House books and Restoration. Here are some excerpts from their thank you letters.

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Thank you for your thoughtful gift of eight books so nicely packed. I cannot afford buying books as the people are very poor.

A priest in India

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Received your beautiful letter and the leaflet, "What is a Priest?" It is great spiritual reading to meditate on for a month. I keep it in my breviary to remind myself of what is a priest.

A priest in Lonavla, India

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We really appreciate your assistance since many of the seminaries that I’ve visited in travels far and wide are very short of spiritual reading material. Many seem to have only the bare necessities.

A priest working in a missionary society in Belgium

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I am receiving Restoration which you are sending me free of cost. I do not know how to express my feelings of gratitude. I have kept all the Restorations that I have received for my spiritual reading.

India

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I read your book Poustinia, during meals in recent retreats to priests and brothers in western Uganda. They liked it and after the retreat, they were commenting so much on it that one of the Brothers took the book from me and hid it in his room to read it again until I asked it back from him. It is full of wisdom.

A bishop in Uganda

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We try to visit each one of the 23 villages; some hidden in difficult places, so that all the old and infirm people can make their confession and receive Holy Communion. Last week was hard going. Cold rain and wind and an infected tooth.

But coming home—what a warmth! Combermere! Restoration! Fr. Omer Tanghe’s book about Catherine Doherty! You know the medicine and food we need. Thank you.

A priest in Surguja, India

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I have a copy of The Gospel Without Compromise and I have read it over and over again—over twenty times. I value this book so much.

A priest in Uganda

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For more writings from Catherine Doherty and the staff of Madonna House, please visit our non-profit on-line book store, Madonna House Publications. All proceeds from the sale of our books are used to spread the Gospel around the world.